Video Premiere: “Black Summer,” by Umm

Umm is the Los Angeles-based project of bassist/vocalist Stef Drootin (The Good Life, Big Harp, Bright Eyes, She & Him) and her husband, guitarist/vocalist Chris Senseney. Last month, the duo released their debut album, Double Worshipper (Majestic Litter), a collection of dreamy psychedelics, krautrock-flavored rhythms, and synth beats, topped off with the couple’s soft, shared vocals.

“Black Summer,” the opening track and lead single of Double Worshipper, pairs easygoing fuzz and the duo’s signature vocal stylings with lyrical themes of accepting adulthood for what it is, rather than some (possibly-unattainable) ideal. “The song is about realizing you’re getting closer to halfway through your life, and abandoning the idea of arriving at any kind of stable and eternal adulthood. Sort of rejecting the notion I think a lot of people have in childhood, and after, that at some point you’ll become a finished version of yourself,” Drootin says.

For the video for “Black Summer,” the couple headed to the beach with their friend, artist and director Mike Stilkey. The video perfectly captures the song’s summer vibes and jaded sense of nostalgia, and adds a little absurdity—including a giant horse mask—into the mix for good measure. “We spent the day hanging out, laughing a bunch, drinking Corona and hiking around; It was super fun,” Drootin says. “One of the things he brought was a horse mask, which we ended up wearing a lot.”

“I asked him what made him bring it, and he said he thought of the horse as the unspoken, or the past, showing its face once in awhile. He told me it was inspired by the lyric but we don’t have to / talk about it / until it comes up / I hope it never comes.”

Watch “Black Summer” below and find out more about Double Worshipper here.